Jail Break
Joy was a very quiet little girl, having much in common with Kiva today. However, she was not without her moments of enterprise. We were privileged to have separate bedrooms in our big house in San Francisco, and Joy's had a balcony. There were windows looking out on the balcony and these were open enough for a sliding metal slatted screen for ventilation (oh that wonderful San Francisco air!!!) The house had a full basement, then two living space levels, and the bedrooms were on the top floor.
One day, when Joy was near three years old, she was taking a nap in her room when my mother heard her voice....outside. Thinking quickly, my mom realized there was only one way she could be outside without having passed through the first floor and my mom seeing her. Mom bolted up the stairs, saw the ventilator removed from the window, and my sister sitting on the balcony rail enjoying the view down three stories to a concrete patio. Mom lunged through the window and grabbed Joy, dragging her to safety.
Those windows were no longer left open, but other ones on the top floor still were. So, move on to another day, not too long after the balcony episode. Most of the homes on our block were one story, and being city houses they were very close together, but did commonly have a narrow gap between each one, say a foot wide or so. This gap wasn't visible from the street since the fronts of the houses connected, but it must have been to allow utilities access.
Once again, Joy was supposed to be taking a nap....and her voice was heard outside. Mom again took the stairs two at a time to find the bathroom window open, and Joy three houses away on the roof. Another athletic squirm out the window, leap over the gaps and grab the child stunt for poor mother. That night, all the windows in the house were securely nailed shut by my Dad, preventing any further escape attempts by Joy. The windows weren't nailed completely shut, he made it so they all opened about 4 inches, so we could still get that fabulous breeze, but certainly not open enough to allow a small child to wiggle through.